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Writing about Writing

Summer Reading Staff Picks…Part 3!

We’re dedicating this Monday to Marks’ summer reading suggestions….both Marks!  Read on to check out Mark J.’s and Mark L.’s top picks…

Mark J. recommends…

  THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving

 A good read for…  Anybody looking for dark comedy, with a storyline so involved it’ll take you through the whole summer break.

A brief synopsis…  Irving’s book is especially appropriate for the UCWbL because it is primarily a story about writers.  TS Garp and his mother, Jenny Fields, both live through their writing, and this novel is their joint biography. Once you get going with this book, you will find it impossible to put down.  Irving keeps you laughing with a remarkable wit that turns even the novel’s darkest moments into brilliant comedy.

Mark J.’s favorite quote from the book… “In the world according to Garp, we’re all terminal cases.”

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Mark L. recommends…

Q ROAD and AMERICAN SALVAGE by Bonnie Jo Campbell

 Good reads for… anyone, especially those of us who are true midwesterners.

Brief Synopsis… Both follow the lives of those in the rural Midwest.   Q Road details the struggles and lives of the people living in Greenland Township, Michigan, who want nothing more than to keep the pastoral traditions and lifestyles they know.  American Salvage is a series of short stories detailing the struggles and hardships of working class men and women.